What to Avoid Before IVF, and What You Can Keep
The list worth avoiding is short. Most of what you gave up isn’t on it.
An evidence-based list of the few changes linked to egg and sperm biology before a cycle, for her and for him, plus an honest label on everything else: Keep it, Your call or Avoid.
- The 6 things genuinely worth avoiding, each tied to published guidance
- His own pages: the 74-day sperm window and the question most couples never ask
- What you can keep, and what the extra restriction quietly costs you
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Licensed in Illinois since 2011 · Fifteen years with couples before IVF
Keep it, your call, or avoid?
Guess first, then tap a card to see how the guide labels it.
These are 4 of the 11. The other 7 labels, and the reasoning behind each, are in the guide.
That’s 4 of 11. The other 7 labels for her and for him, and the reasoning behind each, are in the guide.
Send me the full guide →Six changes worth making, and why the biology agrees
Each item has a plausible biological route to egg or sperm development and published evidence behind it. The list is short on purpose. Two are shown in full here; the reasoning for the other four is in the guide.
Smoking
Tobacco use is associated with impaired fertility and poorer IVF outcomes. ASRM reports smokers need nearly twice as many IVF attempts to conceive, and that much of the reduced fertility may reverse within a year of stopping.
ASRM committee opinion, 2024 →Heat at the scrotum
Sperm are made best slightly below body temperature. In one study, three months of regular sauna sessions lowered sperm count, motility and DNA packaging, and all of it recovered six months after stopping. Hot tub, sauna, laptop on the lap, very long drives.
Human Reproduction, 2013 →Two windows, open at the same time
Sperm take about 74 days to develop. Eggs go through roughly three months of final growth before retrieval. The changes you make now are present while the cells used in your cycle are forming.
Two windows, both partners. Not a guarantee, just the honest reason to start this week rather than “after.”
Six pages. Five minutes. For both of you.
Read it together at the kitchen table. Every item gets a label, what the evidence says, and what giving it up cost you.
Dr. Lejla Fazlicic, D.Ac., L.Ac.
Doctor of Acupuncture · Creator of Cycle Decoded
- Licensed in Illinois since 2011
- Fifteen years with couples before IVF
- Works alongside your clinic, never instead of it
“Nothing in this guide will tell you that your habits caused a failed cycle. That is a promise.”
Cycle Decoded doesn’t publish testimonials or client stories. Read the guide and judge it on the evidence.
Before you sign up
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We haven’t started IVF yet. Is this for us?
Is it for him too?
We had a failed cycle. Will this make us feel like it was our fault?
Does this replace my clinic’s advice?
What happens after I sign up?
Get your list back.
The short list of what to avoid fits on one page. The list of what you get back is longer.
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You don’t have to give up everything.
This page and the guide are education, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, and not a substitute for the care of your physician or fertility clinic. Always talk to your own physician or fertility specialist before changing anything, and tell them about anything either of you is taking.
Dr. Lejla Fazlicic, D.Ac., L.Ac. · Doctor of Acupuncture · Licensed in Illinois since 2011, IDFPR #198000990
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Free guide for both of youWhat to avoid before IVF, and what you can keep
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